Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington’s Secretary of State says he won’t “stop the presses” on ballots for the November election.

The statement comes in response to a lawsuit by Democrats. They want to force gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to identify himself as a Republican on the ballot – rather than GOP. 

A hearing is scheduled for Friday morning. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

Washington Democrats say they’ve seen polling data that suggests some voters don’t know what GOP means. It’s short for Grand Old Party – an alternative name for Republican.

Rossi chose to use GOP instead of Republican next to his name on the ballot. 

Democrats say it’s an effort to hide his true party preference and mislead voters.

Rossi is running against Chris Gregoire in a rematch of a contest that was decided by 133-votes four years ago.

In the meantime, Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican up for re-election, says it’s too late to change the ballots and voters’ guides.

October 5th is the deadline for mailing overseas and military ballots.

Reed says Democrats should have raised this issue months ago. Republicans say the lawsuit could result in members of the military being disenfranchised. Democrats call that a scare tactic.